Monologue from the Soul's Prison
by Forever Jake
Summary: Diablo muses over his victories... and his defeats. A very short piece.


I was Eternal.  
  
I was Invincible.  
  
I was a fool.  
  
Bitterly had I clawed my way from the very pits of Hell. Eagerly had I and my brothers set our gaze on this new world. Here we would start anew, unhindered by our failures in the nether realm we had left. Here, in this Paradise, we would craft a new domain. We would sit on thrones built from the bones of our fallen foes, my brothers and I. Those who had been so glad to see us go would soon feel the pain of our return.  
  
Or so we thought.  
  
Even in Paradise, one is not safe from his enemies, as we soon discovered. Even here, in this glorious Sanctuary, we were hunted and cut down. My elder brothers fought our persecutors to the last moments, but at last they succumbed. I alone escaped, forced to leave my brothers and flee to the West.  
  
It was there, in the safety of the Western lands, that I planned my revenge. Though I eventually fell to the same forces that had chained my brothers, I had already found my course.  
  
I was buried alive beneath a grand cathedral. It was there, in the Church, that I settled on my redeemer. Lazarus was said to be a man of nearly unshakeable faith, and for a time I was amused by his struggle as I broke him. When I finally tired of this, he was bound to me as strongly as he had ever been to the Heavens he appeared to serve. Though his God shunned him for his betrayal, his fellows hardly seemed to notice the shadows I had cast over his soul.  
  
I was not yet powerful enough to overtake him, nor was I stupid enough to think his faith had been wholly crushed. I had little doubt of his ability to betray me to his God should I weaken, and such was a chance I dared not take. What I needed was a stepping stone, a smaller form to use to regain my strength until I could safely impose myself on Lazarus' shadowed form.  
  
The boy was easy to find. The part of Lazarus that I had already conquered was eager to please his dark master, and his power in the Church made him the perfect agent. It was child's play to enter the palace and steal away the young prince. my unwitting pawn.  
  
From their own prisons, my brothers applauded me, and I applauded myself. Like a fool, I celebrated my unwon victory with them, sure that I had at last ensured my liberation and those of my brothers. I have paid dearly for my arrogance.  
  
A warrior, a soldier of fortune, entered the catacombs beneath the church and broke through my vanguard. I fought him, but though I was a far superior fighter, I was still weakened from possessing the boy. and in one ill-fated moment, he destroyed the boy's fragile body and locked me once again within my abominable prison.  
  
I fear I have failed. Lazarus has fled or died, I know not which. and it doesn't matter. Another like him will not appear for ages, if ever. and I fear I shall spend eternity beneath this cold earth.  
  
It seems ages pass now as I watch the world of Sanctuary from my tiny prison. I grow cold as the hellish fires of my eternal power begin to die. I was a fool not to see that one such as he might come. I was a fool not to seal my caverns, not to secure my realm from intruders. I was a fool, and my foolishness has cost me my brothers' freedom. Like me, they will spend the infinite expanse of time alone, trapped, forgotten.  
  
I feel as though an eternity has passed already, but I can see that it is not that. Still the warrior lingers, though for minutes or hours I cannot say. His comrades have all left him, content with their shares of stolen treasure, yet here he stays, watching me writhe within my tiny cell.  
  
What does he see in me? What does he think? Does he worry that I will claim another? That I will return from my Exile? No, such luck would be beyond one so damned as I.  
  
Yet linger he does, and as he does, thought once again flows through the scarred passages of my mind. Yes, I can see him ponder as he gazes at me. His is not the part of the thinker, however, and I know that he will never understand what he is about to do. Perhaps he feels he can contain me, that he can control me, or perhaps he fears what I would try if he did not. Whatever his motives, his shortsightedness is his doom.  
  
He has bound me within himself, and from here I will fight him. He will control me for a time, he will contain me. But I know he has not the mind to battle me forever. I will outlast him, and I will defeat him. And when that day comes, my brothers' liberations will be set in motion. For I am Diablo.  
  
I am Eternal.  
  
I am Invincible.  
  
I shall not fail again. 


End file.
